Introduction: Reserve Free Windows 10 and Fix Reservation Icon Not Appearing

By pjmor.com
About: If it ain't broken, take it apart and fix it.

A few days ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 users will be getting a free upgrade to Windows 10 during a limited time. Here's how to do so, either with the icon in the task bar or without.

Step 1: Check If You Have the Icon

Start by looking at the bottom right corner of your task bar. If you see an windows icon like in the first image, great! Skip to step 4. If you don't, head over to Windows update and install all update available. Once all updates are installed, you may see the icon. If you do, skip to step 4. If you don't, proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Create the File to Enable the Icon

Open notepad, and copy the following text into it:

REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\UpgradeExperienceIndicators" /v UpgEx | findstr UpgEx
if "%errorlevel%" == "0" GOTO RunGWX reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Appraiser" /v UtcOnetimeSend /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f schtasks /run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" :CompatCheckRunning schtasks /query /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" schtasks /query /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" | findstr Ready if NOT "%errorlevel%" == "0" ping localhost >nul &goto :CompatCheckRunning :RunGWX schtasks /run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Setup\gwx\refreshgwxconfig"

Now save it. For this example, I'll name it Win10Reserve.cmd. Make sure you selected the "All files" option. If you don't the file will be saved simply as a text file.

Step 3: Run the File

Press the Windows key and the S key simultaneously and type in cmd. Right click on it and click "Run as Administrator".

Now type in the path of your file and hit enter. In this example, I saved in on my desktop, so the path would be C:/Users/Pablo/Desktop/Win10Reserve.cmd.

You should get a result like picture 3. If you do, wait a few seconds and the reservation icon will appear on your desktop.

If you get a result like in picture 4, skip to step 5.

Step 4: Reserve Your Free Windows 10

Now all you have to do is click the on icon, click "Reserve your free upgrade", optionally put your email, and click "Send confirmation". That's it. Now you just have to wait until July 29th to receive your upgrade.

Step 5: Fix Infinite Loop

If you are getting an infinite loop instead of the icon, it means you're missing 1 or 2 updates; KB3035583 and KB2952664 for Windows 7, or KB3035583 and KB2976978 for Windows 8.1. You can check if you have them by typing in cmd with administrator privileges:

dism /online /get-packages | findstr (number after KB)

So, if I were to check if I had the KB3035583 update installed, I would write:

dism /online /get-packages | findstr 3035583

To fix this, just make sure you have all the Windows Update updates installed.